


if you are the ocean, i am the landscape

by mintpearlvoice



Category: Zombies Run!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, Female Runner Five, Genetically Engineered Beings, Mad Scientists
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-02
Updated: 2017-09-02
Packaged: 2018-12-22 22:55:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11976780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mintpearlvoice/pseuds/mintpearlvoice
Summary: Janine spares a traitor for the greater good.AU from the ending chunk of S2; S2 spoilers.Oh, and Five is a genetically engineered supersoldier. With issues.





	if you are the ocean, i am the landscape

The fact was, they couldn't kill Eight. Not without losing Five.

"No, no," she'd yelled, tearing at her hair, trembling, yanking herself from Sam's grasp to bang her head against the wall. "Mine."

And this was where even Janine felt uncertain. She remembered Five staggering back from Van Ark's lab, pale and dehydrated, sunburns peeling on her shoulders. Tears fell from her eyes as she stared listlessly into the distance, limping on her dislocated knee. God, she'd been a mess.

Curling into a ball in the decontamination room, for instance. Not even touching the sports drink left out for her. When Maxine came to check her injuries, Five had taken in the latex gloves and stethescope and screamed like a caged animal- bolting from one piece of furniture to the other, then pounding on the door until her fists bruised.

Her eyes were wild, unseeing. Janine's classification had never been high enough to know more than a few scraps of information about Project Five. She knew certain non-governmental groups had been doing something with genetic engineering- but not the full details that Mullins had sniffed out, or what the Major had dug up. A secret facility deep under the earth, where people were pieced together from the DNA of ultramarathon runners, soldiers, survivalists. Where the results were grown to adulthood and then had their brains methodically damaged until they could understand words, but barely speak. The shadow assassins were trained not to protest orders, not to resist anything that was done to them, and to fear authority.

Even after years working undercover for Queen and country, killing with her bare hands, reading the Fives' dossiers still made Janine want to vomit. It was a wonder that Five's kindness, her innocence- the gentle, brave spirit of her whole cohort- had still survived. But that day, she'd wondered if Van Ark's cruelty had broken her for good.

Maxine edged closer, her voice gentle, and Five cringed away in sheer terror.

"Let me," Sara said calmly. "She knows me."

"If she doesn't… Sara, our mascot's killed six men with a blunt pencil. I'm not sure you could beat her in hand-to-hand."

"I know. I'm not worried."

She'd sauntered in to the room as casual as could be, while Janine and Maxine watched with trepidation.

"Hello, Five. Good to see you back."

Five looked up- and froze. Janine's hand went to her gun. But instead of attacking, Five struggled to her feet to fling herself into Sara's arms.

"There you are, baby," she'd murmured, stroking the dark cap of Five's messy hair. "Oh, my sweet girl. Are you hurting?"

Five curled into Sara's leather jacket, nodded weakly, buried her head in Sara's neck. Janine could see her breathing deepen as silent panic softened into genuine tears.

"It's your knee, isn't it. I know. It looks like you've dislocated it, maybe twisted it badly. Do you think we could get a doctor in to look at it?"

At the word doctor Five began trembling. Sara went on, calmly. "Maxine. Do you know Maxine? She's your friend. She cares about you, Five. We all care about you very much."

By the time a few minutes had gone by, Five was limp with relief, her eyelids looking heavy; Sara had gotten half the sports drink and even a few bites of a protein bar down her throat. She leaned against Sara, pliant and sleepy, only jerking away when Maxine probed her injured knee.

 

 

 

So: Janine considered possibilities.

Trying to give Five a flu shot without Sara. What if the clone runner panicked and killed Maxine?

Trying to dig a bullet out of Five's shoulder. Splint a finger. Convince her that medication wouldn't hurt her.

Hell, even the routine things. Her past had left her with nightmares that caused her to scream and gasp herself awake, and crawl out of bed with tears pouring down her face. She was the most fearless person in Abel township. The most lethal. She was like a weapon that had been brought to life. Her wounds closed themselves. Even the zombie virus only left her with a raging fever, leaning over the side of her bed as she threw up toxic sludge that sought to contaminate her flesh. But she was also so fucking vulnerable. Language gave her debilitating headaches, and she communicated mostly by pointing to things and making faces. Sometimes she turned up in the kennel, sleeping among the dogs. She hadn't even known what a chicken was before coming to Abel.

 

Sara, in the farmhouse, on a full-moon night.

"She's my heart, Janine. My whole heart, just running around outside my body. I thought I couldn't feel anymore." A swig of wine, and she tossed her hair out of her face. "Thought I wouldn't miss it, even. But I look at her, I touch her, and everything I knew about love and caring just comes rushing back." What she didn't say, but Janine understood: I'm scared of losing her.

 

 

 

When Janine entered the little room where they were keeping the prisoner, Sara fell to her knees. "You can kill me, Janine. I deserve it. Just, please… wait for Five to trust someone else first. She's there with Sam, or nearly, he just has to realize it. She'd walk barefoot over broken glass if he told her to. Jodie, even, if she learns to be quieter, since Five gets startled by loud noises."

Janine focused on keeping her face drained of expression. She didn't want Sara to see her betrayal and hurt.

Fear crossed Sara's face. Janine hoped to feel disgust- but Sara wasn't afraid for herself. "Janine- please- let me say goodbye to her. Tell her I'm going back to Mullins. She'll be stronger if she thinks I'm still alive. If she thinks I'm going to come back to her."

"No, we're keeping you alive. But only for her sake."

It was as if Sara was a puppet, and relief had cut her strings. She slumped forward. "Thank you so much."

"Don't touch me," Janine spat, pulling away. She couldn't conceal her hatred for the traitor who spoke with the voice of her oldest friend. "Don't come near me. You're nothing to me."

A bitter half-smile pulled at Sara's lips. "That's quite all right."


End file.
